EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

Chronic bone infection is considered one of the most problematic biofilm-related infections with high morbidity and mortality rates, prolonged hospitalization and costly health care expenses [1]. Nanomedicine has entered into this scenario by bringing new approaches to develop new therapies to enhance the standards used today [2,3]. The scientific efforts are mainly focused on the design of...

In the last few years there has been an expanding concern about osteoporosis due to its constantly growing prevalence and its enormous socio-economic impact.1 As an alternative to conventional treatments, combination therapies, including gene therapy, have emerged with promising results. However, the transport and delivery of those molecules still remains a challenge.2
In this work, we...

In recent years, antimicrobial resistance has become one of the main threats to global health. This drawback lies mainly in the formation of biofilms, which are a defense mechanism of microorganisms against external aggressions, including antibiotics [1]. In addition, it has been shown in previous studies that severe infection leads to changes in factors such as vascular endothelial growth...

Mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles (MBGNs) are multifunctional materials for various biomedical applications [1]. MBGNs are usually synthesized using sol-gel based strategies. Their composition and morphology (e.g., particle size, pore structure) can be conveniently tailored by tuning sol-gel processing parameters, e.g., the concentration of pore-forming templates [2]. Incorporating...

Borate glasses have gained attention in soft tissue applications, and especially in wound healing due to their lower chemical durability compared with the silicate glasses. The high ion release profile is expected to have a positive effect on the healing process. Boron enhances vascularization during the proliferation phase, and calcium improves hemostasis at the very beginning of the healing...

Mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles generated significant attention in recent years as suitable materials for biomedical application. In this study, cerium was incorporated into mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles (MBGNPs) using two different approaches. In the first approach, cerium was added to the glass system directly during the synthesis, while in the second approach cerium was...

Mesoporous glass nanoparticles (MGNs) on the SiO2-P2O5-CaO system are receiving great research interest for bone regeneration applications. The good biological capabilities of MGNs can still be improved by doping with inorganic ions and loading with biologically active molecules. In this communication, two MGNs compositions: 79.5SiO2-2.5P2O5-18CaO (MGN-79.5) and 60SiO2-4P2O5-36CaO (MGN-60)...

Some bone diseases require the use of biomaterials that facilitate the natural bone regeneration processes. In this context, the use of 3D scaffolds based on mesoporous bioactive glasses (MBGs) improved with therapeutic ions, biologically active molecules and mesenchymal cells (MSCs) is a remarkable strategy to improve bone repair. In this study, the osteogenic ability of ZnO-enriched MBG...

Bioactive glasses (BGs) are well-recognized multifunctional biomaterials for bone regeneration and wound healing applications. Protein adsorption on BG surfaces plays an essential role in determining biocompatibility, cell adhesion and proliferation as well as influencing a series of cellular pathways after cell-BG contact. Understanding protein adsorption on BGs is thus necessary for...

The regeneration of load-bearing bone segments is a critical need, still unmet due to the lack of bone scaffolds capable of inducing extensive osteogenesis and vascularization, and with appropriate mechanical performance. Indeed, conventional fabrication methods do not allow accurate control of compositional and structural changes, particularly during the consolidation of calcium phosphate...

The polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) route is a promising way for the production of silicate-based bio-ceramic/glass-ceramic materials: through suitable heat treatment, they yield materials with a distinctive control of phase purity and microstructures. Silicone-fillers mixture can yield bio-ceramics with a well-defined crystalline phase such as Biosilicate® glass-ceramics (Na2CaSi2O6)....

One of the most important tissue engineering strategies is based on porous structures or scaffolds to provide a support for the growth and proliferation of cells in the damaged tissue. For bone regeneration, alumina is a suitable candidate thanks to its biocompatibility and its excellent and tunable mechanical properties. In this work, an original procedure is introduced, based on the...

Calcium phosphate scaffolds have been widely studied in the last decades as valuable solution for bone regeneration. However, the design and preparation of large bioceramic scaffolds for load-bearing applications, provided with tailored porosity, still represents a remarkable challenge. On the other hand, their porosity, pore size distribution and interconnection strongly reflect their...

Gelatin nanofibrous scaffolds fabricated using the electrospinning technique and stabilized using chemical cross-linking [1] are characterized using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM). Biomaterials like gelatin are commonly electron beam sensitive and non-conductive. Thus, high resolution SEM imaging of biomaterial samples is often challenged by charging and beam damage....

Bone is a biological nanocomposite, combining toughness and strength with a low weight. Similar to other complex composites, the hierarchical organization of mineralized tissues affects drastically their mechanical performance across different scales. The elementary building block of bone at the microscale consists of mineralized collagen fibril (MCF, each 10-300 nm in diameter) arrays...

Chitin is the second most abundant polysaccharide in the world after cellulose. It is obtained from molluscs, shrimps, and insect shells. Chitin possesses a semicrystalline structure and has been identified in the literature as a piezoelectric system[1,2]. Nevertheless, chitin's low solubility makes it difficult to use in various applications leaving its derivative, chitosan (obtained by...

Poly(L-lactic) acid (PLLA) is a biodegradable and biocompatible thermoplastic polyester and an excellent candidate to replace traditional petroleum-based polymers in a wide spectrum of applications [1]. However, its poor mechanical and barrier properties, thermal stability and low crystallization rate render it slightly inferior to conventional thermoplastics. Tailoring the properties of PLLA...